Fighting the Perversion of Law, Christianity and Politics

It's Official

2005-12-02T15:53:00.000-06:00

Howdy, peeps. I think that anyone who knows me already knows, but I am officially an officer of the court. I passed the bar exam, swore up and down that I would be a good, ethical defender of the Constitutions of the U.S. and Texas, and have the gold bar card to prove it. It's been very exciting to know that people can put their trust in me to solve their legal problems.

So, knowing that, if you have any legal problems and you have money, and those problems are in Texas, then please let me know and maybe we can work something out.

Peace out and don't eat too much leftover turkey.

Bush Still Has a Vacancy to Fill, Fill 'er Up Right

2005-10-27T10:20:00.000-05:00

With Harriet Miers dropping out of the confirmation process, Pres. Bush still must fill O'Connor's spot. He has two choices:

1. He can do as Chuck Schumer has asked and appoint "someone in the mold of O'Connor, a mainstream moderate." *Hint* This is code-speak for a liberal. I know that it doesn't sound like that, but that's what it means to Schumer. He wants someone nominated who will uphold Roe...that's all, nothing more or less. Or,

2. He can choose a really conservative person to fill the spot. I'm talking about someone who makes Rehnquist look moderate. "Someone in the mold of Thomas or Scalia."

What should Bush do? The answer is easy. You nominate someone right of Scalia and Thomas. Nominate someone that Republicans would commit political suicide to oppose and then fight for their confirmation. Last I checked, Republicans had a majority in the Senate and the tie-breaker.

What will Bush do? This isn't so easy. I believe that President Bush is generally a guy who doesn't mind mixing it up with the left or his own party. But, I think he's also smart enough to know that his party leaders don't have the courage to take on the left. So, he will probably nominate another dark horse candidate, hoping to get them through the process without much damage.

This is a wonderful time to be alive in the USA. Nowhere else in the world can you have so many over-qualified people for the highest court in the land. Pres. Bush has picked two candidates whose credentials are unknown at best and lacking at worst. Someone needs to step up to the plate and act like they have a majority. The left doesn't seem to have that problem when they have the power. But they aren't as nice about it.

Let's Just Hope that Ann Coulter's Wrong

2005-09-29T12:34:00.000-05:00

John Roberts has just become the 17th Chief Justice of the SCOTUS. He was overwhelmingly affirmed and will take the oath of lifetime office this afternoon or tomorrow before he takes the bench for the first time on Monday for the new SCOTUS term. So, what do we know about him?

We know that he is brilliant, cool under pressure, and likely to draw much scrutiny in the next few years. The liberal's worst fears are that this new justice will overturn their much-beloved Roe v. Wade and its progeny. My greatest fear is that Ann Coulter could be right. Dark-horse candidates don't very often go the way they are supposed to go. See J. Souter.

We don't really know any of his beliefs or judicial philosophy. And, in today's deeply divided political landscape, getting someone confirmed is near impossible with a candidate who is clearly conservative. Liberals will moan and groan all day long unless that person up for consideration is pro-abortion, pro-public schools, pro-anything-but-Christianity, and Republicans are too gutless to lead as if they won the elections and so will bow to the pressure put on by the Democrats and the media. But I come back to the point that we don't really know anything about Roberts except that he worked for some conservative presidents.

I hope that in the private meetings with Pres. Bush, he was more open and forthright about what he intended to do on the bench. I've liked Pres. Bush's appointments to the cabinet positions and such, so I'm going to have faith.

And, hey! Why can't conservatives ever have a backbone and moan and groan about a liberal nominee who wants to uphold abortion (even the most detestable partial-birth abortion). I think that there is, in fact, a litmus test for getting on the bench. Either be pro-abortion, or do a really good job of keeping your thoughts to yourself, lie that upholding precedent is a good thing, or be lucky enough to face a Republican congress with enough chutzpah to push your nomination through despite Borking yourself.

Some Great Books You Might Like

2005-09-17T14:24:00.000-05:00

I've been reading a lot of stuff lately, and I've enjoyed few books as well as I enjoyed Robert Whitlow's "The Sacrifice."

Robert Whitlow is a Christian author of legal thrillers. Dubbed by some, "The John Grisham of the Christian market," Whitlow weaves a good tale of salvation, relationships, and legal procedure. Now, I'm not sure if I even like John Grisham (I've had trouble getting into a couple of his books), but Whitlow is definitely worth a chance.

I've also read "The Trial" by Whitlow, and I liked it very much too. So, if you need something to read, these stories are well written, and the stories are not obvious.

Good to See Some Friends

2005-09-09T14:54:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday, Rebecca and I went up to Waco to see family and friends. We've only been gone from there for about a month, but upon seeing everyone, it seemed like forever. I didn't realize how special Rebecca and I had it up there.

Oh, I do love living where we are now. This town is active, vibrant, small, and friendly...a wonderful place for anyone to live. It has the pace of a small town with the activity (hiking, biking, etc.) of the big city. We have retirees and we have young families. I hope that I get to raise a family here. But that said, Waco was sure good to/for us.

To my in-laws: your hospitality is always appreciated. We've seen y'all several times since the move, but nonetheless, it's good to see you.

To the young professionals at Crestview C of C: Keep the vigor for Christ alive. Keep the group going, because you get so much more out of church if you put effort and time into it. To those that are pregnant, we couldn't be happier for you. Your pregnancies will be in our prayers, and we'll do our best to come see you in your proudest moment.

To Josh and Lauren, specifically: We loved having lunch with you on Sunday. We've missed seeing you guys a whole lot. I (and I think I speak for Rebecca) regret that our relationship to you guys didn't really get off the ground until the last few months before our move. That said, we refuse to let it die. We are only a few miles apart and that's a small drive for the encouragement we get from being with you.

I believe that I can't consider anyone a close friend until I've had a meal with them. That is so crucial to developing and maintaining a true friendship. Well, my table has been blessed with some great company. A plate is set for you, just give us a call and let us know you're coming.

Utility Companies Commit Tort: False Imprisonment

2005-09-06T16:10:00.000-05:00

Howdy folks, it's good to be back behind the keyboard. Now that I've got internet access at home now, you can count on me getting some thoughts into the blogosphere.

When my favorite redhead and I moved to our new home, we did so under the impression that our new home was all electric. So, when Rebecca decided to take a shower on the first morning that she woke up there, she was unpleasantly surprised to find no hot water. Thankfully, we moved in the hottest part of the summer, so luke warm waters aren't that uncomfortable.

Well, of course, the next step in getting our home fully moved-into, was to get someone to hook up the gas water heater. We call the ONLY company that services our town, only to be told that the soonest that could be there was next thursday. As it was Monday, we had to be resigned to the fact that cold water would rain supreme for another week. I was unfortunately taking the bar exam that week, and so Rebecca was alone at the house.

She went back to Waco to see me and encourage me on Wednesday and I was lucky to convince her to stay the night because I needed her presence. If she should leave Waco by 10:30, she should be able to make it back to our new place by about 11:30. The gas company told her to be at the house from 12:00 - 5:00 to meet the gas man.

As it turns out, she gets back to the new place at about noon, and what does she find but a note saying that the gas man had come and gone at 11:45. AAARRRGGHH! She gets to wait on hold for 25 minutes (on her cell phone no less) and asks them to reschedule.

"Oh, but we can't have anyone there until Monday. Be home between 8:00 and 5:00." I guess the gas companies think that they are the only people who work during the week. It's obscene. Luckily, we weren't starting our jobs just yet, but nonetheless, we had things to do.

Confined to our house, we had to wait for the person who would bring warmth to our home until a full 11:45. I may be wrong, but I bet the gas company could whittle down their approximate delivery times.

Check out the SatireSite

2005-08-31T17:35:00.000-05:00

I have posted a new satirical article, please feel free to check it out. You can get their with the link on the left side of the page, or click satiresite.blogspot.com to go to it.

More to come later...things are so busy nowadays. I wish I was in school again so that I could avoid the real world a little longer.

I'm Almost Back

2005-08-12T11:10:00.000-05:00

Hello, all. I have finished the bar exam (and boy was that fun!) but have also moved away from Waco. Rebecca and I are now in a new place, but we don't have cable or phone, and thus, no internet. We have access almost everyday through our work, but we don't feel right posting on our employers' time.

So, soon, there will be more things to read. I've come up with great things to talk about, but I just haven't found the time to put them down in ones and zeros.

My next two posts will be on my satiresite.blogspot.com though, so check there early next week.

Word to your mother.

See Another Great Article

2005-07-18T21:14:00.000-05:00

Faithful ones! Go check out my new entry at satiresite.blogspot.com and then bookmark the site. I will have more articles soon.

South Beach Diet vs. Communion

2005-07-17T22:14:00.000-05:00

My beautiful wife, Rebecca, is starting her second week of the South Beach diet. I am very proud of her for her perseverence and faithfulness to it. But, on this Sunday, she had to break from the diet at communion time in our worship service.

You see, the South Beach diet is very strict in the first two weeks to eliminate all carbs from the dieter's menu while stocking up on lean meats and vegetables. Fruits are even considered no-nos for the first stage dieter. After two weeks, the dieter can begin to reintroduce some carbs. Some carbs, however, are considered no-nos even in the later stages of the diet. Matzah (forgive the spelling) is one such no-no.

This means that communion in our church is completely contrary to the healthy lifestyle of the South Beach diet. Our church uses matzah for the bread, the body of Christ, and grape juice (I'm sure with sugar added) for the blood of Christ.

Yet, Rebecca chose to partake in her Lord. A week down the drain because she felt a need to honor Christ. Now, if Rebecca were Catholic, then there would be no problem because the bread would have actually turned into the body of Christ when it entered her own, thus meat. And the grape juice would have actually turned into blood, a protein-rich liquid. This is due to the transubstantiation doctrine. But, alas, she is not Catholic, but instead protestant.

Oh well. I'm proud of her for trying so hard on the diet, and I'm proud that she chose Christ over carbs. But I submit that churches should look for a way to solve this problem.

God Wants Our Hearts, Not Our Dignity

2005-07-11T14:26:00.000-05:00

As he returned home, David's wife saw him dancing in the street in nothing but a smile. Upon rebuke, David responded, "It was before the Lord, who chose me...I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes." David's wife had no children to the day of her death.

Yes! This is the response we should have. Our God is worthy of everything we have to give him. He demands it. Yet, like Michal, we get wrapped up in ourselves, for fear of looking like an idiot.

If, like me, you are a member of the Church of Christ, this message is not what we would like to hear. How can we reconcile orderly worship that we find pleasing to God in I Corinthians with the above passage about David? God doesn't change. He's the same God of David as he was the God of Paul.

The answer is not really a difficult one. Avoid dancing naked in the streets nowadays as that is considered illegal and punishable by jail or fine or both. But, DO give every ounce of your heart to God every minute of every day in worship. Raising hands is no longer a no-no for me. Clapping is perfectly acceptable. Kneeling is admirable. Running through the aisles with a tamborine is not for me, but so long as it is not a distraction from the otherwise orderly worship, I fail to see it as misguided.

In my church though, running with tamborines would be a distraction. So how can we be David in a church that's Paul? Again, I think the answer is in where the heart is. Are you giving 100% of your voice to God? Are you acknowledging his greatness with 100% of your being? The answer is probably "no." I've yet to ever be that way. Too often, I'm thinking about how off the pew-force is. Or maybe, I'm thinking about how fun the bass line is to sing. Or more simply, maybe I'm just too tired to concentrate fully.

But, we need to be able to answer our detractors, "I am celebrating the Lord right now. And I will continue to celebrate the Lord until I collapse of exhaustion. I look like an idiot, I feel like an idiot, but you haven't seen anything yet."

Disclaimer: There is a point where you can truly turn unbelievers off by the seriously cooky things you do. I would never feel that I have served my mission to go out into all the world making disciples of all the nations if I led someone away from Him despite my good, personal intentions. Church is still a community and society rules do apply.

So what will change? I will try to be more open to the emotional aspect of worship. I've got the orderly part down. This post is hopefully helpful to others, but if not, then at least one person's life has a new perspective because of it.

No Good Deed Ever Goes Unpunished

2005-07-11T09:25:00.000-05:00

I think about a person a whole lot. I see him as kind of my poster-boy for husbandom. His name is Uzzah. The story goes that the Ark of the Covenant was being transported back to Jerusalem with King David. At "the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled." (2 Sam. 6:6) God's wrath burned within him and struck Uzzah dead beside the ark. At Uzzah's death, David was angry with God and refused to take the Ark with him to Jerusalem for three months.

I probably don't have to explain why I chose the title or why I think this is a good lesson in marriage. But I certainly don't want to be taken as one suggesting that God was wrong for what he did.

Here's a poor fellow, politely walking along the ark, in a triumphant, celebratory procession. At a spot in the path, the cart teeters. This guy reaches out to stabilize the greatest possession--nay, God's resting place-- in all of ancient Israel and dies for his troubles.

Like Uzzah, I often do things for my wife with great intentions in mind, but get my hand bitten off for it. Rebecca, as you read this, let your anger subside until the end. Wives and God have something in common. Their ways are higher than our ways. Their thoughts are higher than our thoughts. We sometimes doubt that fact, but seriously, have we ever been able to understand them? It is we men that cannot comprehend.

All sexism aside, Uzzah really had to die. It wasn't for his intentions that he died. According to 2 Samuel, he died for his irreverent act. God is so Holy that his laws and decrees must be followed. God is so powerful that a teetering cart would not cause God to stumble.

The lesson here is two-fold. Let God's holiness guide our actions, and be slow to act upon reflex as Uzzah did. God's ways are higher than our own. We are to allow God to stabilize the world. That is not our job. Secondly, men, remember that your wife is worthy of great respect. Do something good for the right reasons, but in the wrong manner, expect and welcome a learning opportunity on how better to do it next time.

"What, me worry?"

2005-07-11T09:03:00.000-05:00

I saw a recent story that Hillary Clinton compared W to Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neumann. She started off her speech, blaming tax cuts for todays sagging, terrible, absolutely abysmal economy.

I guess Hillary has been absent from this country for a while, probably on some MoveOn.org sponsored trip to communist Cuba or something. She apparently missed the new employment numbers. About 150,000 new jobs created last quarter, dropping the unemployment rate to 5.0%. Her own lackey, Bill never managed to sustain an average unemployment rate below 5.4%.

What I'm getting at is that there is no limit to how far the left wants this country to fall. The more this country hurts economically, the more we are attacked, the more troops die in Iraq, the better their chances of getting back into power. I thank my lucky stars that I am not in the Democratic caucus when news comes in that another chopper was shot down. I do believe the cheers and high-fives would sicken me.

It's quite one thing to be happy when an opponent does something stupid to hurt his chances of getting into office (sex in the Oral Office...Oval Office, I mean). Be happy, cheer that his destruction could help your cause. It is quite another thing to hinge your hopes on a devastating day for America.

For well over five years, the left has tried to paint W as a simpleton, a liar, and a puppet. Each day he proves them wrong. Here's the rub. It didn't work for his first 4 years in office. The majority of Americans saw through the empty rhetoric of the leftists. Yet, the same tired tactics are being used in preparation for the congressional elections of '06 and the biggie in '08.

The left has to hope for doom and gloom so that they can institute their Brave New World. But America is a nation of hope and promise. That is a terrible position to find yourself in.

Demon Possessed Sheep Take Action

2005-07-08T17:19:00.000-05:00

I found this story on the Drudge Report today, and thought it was very reminiscent of a particular Bible story. Enjoy! It's pretty funny.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/08/AR2005070800553_pf.html

London Bombings

2005-07-08T13:40:00.000-05:00

My heart sank yesterday when I learned of the London bombings by al Qaeda. My prayers go out to the good people of England. However, I hope that if any good can come from this (and I am positive that there is), that the Britons will come together to realize exactly what kind of enemy the western world faces. Tony Blair has long been a lone voice in a sea of appeasement makers. His voice has been saying very loudly that civilized society cannot tolerate terrorism. Blair almost lost his prime minister position over his support of our efforts.

The attack on London was not just an attack on England. It was an attack on all of western society. Despite our great efforts over the last four years, Al Qaeda is still active. Sure, we've broken them, we've disabled them, but they live on like the cockroaches they are. But al Qaeda will not go away until every civilized country takes the stand that the U.S. has taken and what I believe the Brits will take.

Countries like Spain and France, those that back down to adversity are what fuel these monsters. Attacks will continue so long as they work. When the bad guys have new demands, they will try another attack. It is for this reason that we DO NOT negotiate with terrorists.

England, I love you, and pray for you. Do what your leader has been saying for so long now...prevail over the evil that seeks to destroy you.

I Want to be a Crazy Armadillo

2005-07-06T11:20:00.000-05:00

In the previous post, I discussed the big points of my camping trip during the 4th of July weekend. Well, this post is about something more specific.

As we were all having dinner the first night of the trip, an armadillo decided to come into our campsite. This was cool for a moment because I thought that armadillos were born dead, but here was one 4 feet away from me moving on its own. But then I remembered that Armadillos are said to be carriers of leprosy. I don't particularly like the idea of contracting that disease, so we tried to scare it away on numerous occasions, but each time it kept coming back from the thicket and into our campsite.

We flashed the flashlights at it, we yelled, and we even got our dogs to bark at it from close range. Oliver, with his 1.2 tons of body mass was scared of it when close to it, but ferocious from a distance. Joan of Barc, with her 20 pounds was scared of it, but really wanted to get close to it. But yet it kept coming back.

Finally, Donnie took a walking cane and beat the armadillo on the back. We didn't see the armadillo again, but we could hear him and he eventually made it through our site while we were in our tents.

I'm writing about this because we could learn something from this armadillo. As Christians, we have a set path before us. Some would call this the straight and narrow, but regardless, we are called to live a righteous life, leading to the cross. Like the armadillo, we have faced and will face many people, places, objects, and obstacles who seek to deter us from completing our mission. It might be easy to go to the right 40 yards to find another campsite where there are no leprosy fearing campers and cross there, but that may not be the path chosen for us.

We might have to instead bide our time and wait for the forces of obstruction to fall asleep or otherwise turn their gaze upon something else. But the point is, we have to continue the journey regardless and we have to do it on the path chosen.

Furthermore, as Christians walking this path, we will meet people who want and will cane us. Persecution is real. I think that it is imperative that we stay true to the course.

In the real life armadillo situation, I am not condemning Donnie for trying to scare off the armadillo...after all, leprosy is considered unclean. And, I know that the armadillo wasn't out to prove a spiritual point and that he was just dumb and couldn't figure out a better way to do things. However, I admire that shelled creature. He was armed and shielded to do battle, and in the end, though he took a beating, he still completed his journey.

I wonder if Joanie touched the 'dillo and if she might be carrying...oh, I need a bath.

Braum's Saved My Life

2005-07-06T10:55:00.000-05:00

My wonderful wife, Rebecca, and I went camping this past 4th of July weekend with another couple from our church small group. Let me tell you what. I had a terrible attitude almost the whole time.

Rebecca and I got there early, say around 4:30 on Saturday afternoon. By 4:35, I was drenched with sweat, tired, hungry, and pretty much miserable. While Becca's over there at the camp table whistling Dixie - or maybe it was the Battle Hymn of the Republic. That's pretty much how it went on for the rest of the afternoon. However, at about 8:15, the McBrides show up and by then the weather has cooled down, the shadows have lengthened, and I'm still drenched with sweat, tired, hungry, and pretty much miserable.

We do the traditional camping thing--eat, clean, play cards, etc. And by about 11:30, the weather has cooled down enough for us to enter our tents. But Rebecca and I had an inflatable mattress with one sheet on it and another sheet to use if we got cold. We didn't use that other sheet either night for very long.

The next morning, I got up around 8:00 (not bad for a camping trip) and we had a great breakfast by April McBride. But, by 8:15 a.m. I was already drenched with sweat, tired, hungry, and pretty much miserable. The rest of the trip went pretty much like that.

Only, there were some good things. At some point on Sunday, we decided that it was too hot to stick around at the campsite (or website as I accidentally called it once on the trip). So we decided to take a drive in the air-conditioned car. We took our dogs (Joan of Barc - age 2, weight 20 lbs.; and Oliver - age 7, weight 1.2 tons) because they were tired of being in the heat too. In Hillsboro, we stopped at the Braum's for some ice cream, drinks, and A/C. I think we stayed there for 2 hours'ish'. But while we were in there, the dogs stayed in the car and continued to get really hot. Oliver decided to drool and then bark at people, making a real droolish mess in and on the outside of the car.

Braum's saved my life. Without Braum's, I would have died of heat exhaustion. April (who's carrying twins) also really appreciated the respite. The Braum's experiment changed everyone's demeanor, most notably mine.

You see, I look back on the weekend now, and I think about how absolutely wretched I behaved. Yes, I was rightfully miserable, but everyone else was at least trying to have a good attitude about it. I was never shy about how miserable I was, and it really brought the mood down.

I was fortunate to be in God's nature, having a time of fellowship with friends, but I failed to see that while I was there. Oh, and Donnie, if you should ever read this, you should really seek professional help for wanting to go hiking in that weather.

I'm not much of a camper to begin with, but it's a blessing to get to do that periodically with people you love. I'm also glad to say that Joan of Barc, our dog, is not much of a camper either. She didn't have a very good time getting near the lake.

Rebecca, I'm sorry for my attitude.

Moral of the Story: When you are feeling drenched with sweat, tired, hungry, and pretty much miserable, go to Braum's and stay there for about 2 hours. I got the banana split, and that seemed to really help.

The Scholar!

2005-06-30T13:44:00.000-05:00

There's a new show on one of the networks called "The Scholar." The idea is that the winner of this "Survivor" type show is granted a full-ride scholarship to the college of their choice. The losers of the show go home empty-handed, destitute, disgraced, and otherwise back to the obscurity of their humdrum lives. If only that was the case...

I watched about 20 minutes of one episode, and they show about 15 teenagers, seniors in high school, who all could (and probably will) get full-ride scholarships to any school they want. For instance, there is one girl who scored a 1550 on the SAT. That score alone is enough to make her a national merit scholarship finalist. Another girl has a 4.0 GPA and is a math prodigy. A girl going into the mathematics/analytical/engineering world has her way paved in gold laid out before her. No sexism intended here, but traditionally brainiac professions have a dearth of estrogen.

The network advertised this series as "The nation's most deserving high school students are going to compete for one full-ride scholarship to the college of their choice." Yeah, it sounds great until you realize, like I've said in the previous paragraphs, that these kids are going to go places with or without the scholarship. No, this series is just about getting 15 minutes of fame.

If the network wants to really make a difference that would be fun to watch, they should rework the show to be, "The nation's biggest underachievers will compete for one full-ride scholarship." Watching brilliant people be brilliant is not that fun (unless you have a string of 75 consecutive Jeopardy wins). But, watching mediocre people be brilliant could be fun to watch. Reality contests should be geared so that the contest gets out of people some things that those people didn't know they had within them.

I don't know if my idea would in fact be good television, but it would at least take the superficiality out of the contest. God bless those kids that are competing for the school of their choice, but is anyone's life really going to change based on this contest. No, probably not. Besides, you might think that whoever wins will probably want to go to Hawvawd or Yale, but in my experience, there is a lot more to choosing a school than what the name on the gate says. The school of my choosing was Abilene Christian University, despite being turned down for the Presidential scholarship, and despite having an offer of a large scholarship at a somewhat prestigious school. You have to look for a good fit wherever you are.

If You Build It, He Will Cry

2005-06-30T08:56:00.000-05:00

The USSC has some real boneheads on it. I posted earlier about the recent ten commandments rulings, but before those were handed down, the supremes ruled that a state government could proceed with condemnation proceedings against one private owner and hand that property over to a private developer to build condos. This flies in the face of one of the greatest rights we have in this country - the right to own property.

As some background, the U.S. Constitution permits governments to take property under eminent domain (5th Amendment), but it must be for public use, and the government must compensate the owner justly...that is, reasonable market value.

This new ruling, a 5-4 decision, allows for the first time the opportunity of the government to take property from one private citizen and give it to another private citizen. How can this be public use, you ask? Well, the Men in Black (the 9 on the bench), have declared that where the local economy will make more in taxes and revenue from the new developments than the local government makes from property taxes by the current owner, then that is a sufficient public use.

It is a travesty of the highest order. But, soon we may have a reconsideration of the ruling. Justice Souter is a member of the liberal bloc on the court, and accordingly he voted to abort the rights of the landowners. Mr. Souter, however, has a bit of property in New Hampshire where one industrious developer is hoping to commence condemnation hearings upon said property to build his "Lost Liberty Hotel." If the local government should exercise their new, expanded right of eminent domain, Mr. Souter would have to just sit back and take it. As my brother put it, he will have to live with his decision. We can all hope that this gentleman in New Hampshire is successful because until a Supreme gets brought down to Earth, we will have to endure further encroachments upon our rights.

If you want to read the article about the New Hampshire developer, go to this site:
http://www.freestarmedia.com/hotellostliberty2.html

Aufwienerschnitzel,
Matthew

Too Much Sound in Silence

2005-06-27T19:50:00.000-05:00

I have been working on a stand up comedy routine for a while now. The basic premise is that silence is impossible in today's world. For instance, in the Church of Christ (the denomination, not the overall body) we take pride in our lack of musical instruments. However, when a worship leader asks for a moment of silence, we have one for about 0.6 seconds before people start coughing or shooshing. At about 2.2 seconds in, the worship leader will then break the moment of silence and commence with the prayer or song he has.

Having been to a few more progressive baptist churches and the non-denominational denomination churches, silence there is no silence at all...not even for 2.2 seconds. "Brothers and sisters, let's have a moment of silence while music director, Ethan plays random notes on his electric keyboard."

It's funny, but it's also rather serious. This world clutters our minds with noise all day long. Even right now, I'm in the office typing this post and in the other room, I hear the tele going on and on about some highschoolers who want to go to college. Driving along in the car, it is almost maddening to drive five miles without something on the radio, loud enough to be heard over the "roar of the road." Until my parents threatened to kill me, I had to have some music on to go to sleep.

Silence can be such a beautiful thing. With all the noise we have around us, we can scarcely hear our God speaking. If we want to fill our minds with a noise, what better sound to have upon the auditory nerve than the voice of God. He's speaking to us each day, but we have largely tuned him out in favor of the world's messages.

Supreme Court Again Perverts Religion and Law

2005-06-27T16:30:00.000-05:00

The USSC never ceases to ashame me. As a lawyer and a Christian, I cannot understand what this court is doing. The long-held Lemon Test to ferret out violations of the establishment clause has once again brought to us confusion and perversion. As a lawyer, I would much like the court to reconsider their decisions today (upholding one display of the 10 commandments and striking down another). For the sake of those of us taking the bar in July, it would be nice to know how to apply the Lemon test with some sort of consistency and know that we would get the answer right. As a lawyer, I wouldn't care if the court ruled that all displays were unconstitutional, just so long as we were consistent - don't allow minorahs or stars of David in the courthouses either.

As a Christian however, I think that this court has overlooked something very important. And that is that this nation was founded on the principles of the ten commandments. Our forefathers regarded them in high esteem.

But where I have my biggest problem is that the court conveniently overlooks the fact that over 70% of the public approve of such displays, compared to 23% that disapprove. The Men in Black who sit over our justice system have instituted their will upon the rest of us. Five liberals now run this country. I fully understand the need for protecting the rights of those in the minority, but at some point there has to be a line drawn. Give the minority the right to life, liberty, property, and the right to vote to change things for their cause. Let them persuade me to change my vote if they have a worthy position. There is a huge difference between having rights, and having your way at the expense of the majority's.

Persecution against Christians is real, and this is one example. But, as long as we sit here and take it, that is what we shall be forced to live with. Have no fear, though. It won't hurt, because by that point we will be numb to it. I think we may be already.

First Posting

2005-06-24T11:31:00.000-05:00

I have now entered the 21st century by creating this blog. It is great to know that I will influence the next presidential election by having this. More will come when I know what I'm doing.

Peace Out